New Report: CSIRO and BOM – ‘State of the Climate 2012’

Two of Australia’s peak scientific bodies — the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) — have recently released a report entitledState of the Climate 2012.

State of the Climate 2012 is the second paper produced by CSIRO and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology summarising observations of Australia’s climate and analysing the factors that influence it.

Here are some of the report’s key findings…

Climate change is continuing.

Warming has been measured around Australia and globally during recent decades.

2010 Global temperatures were the warmest on record (slightly higher than 2005 & 2008).

Australia experienced record rainfalls and the coolest temperatures since 2001 due to a very strong La Niña event in 2010 and 2011.

Concentrations of long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached a new high in 2011.

Australian temperatures are projected to increase in coming decades.

Rising CO2 emissions from the burning of fossil fuels has affected global temperature much more than natural climate variability during the past century.

The full report and an interview with Dr Karl Braganza from the Climate Monitoring Section of the Bureau of Meteorology can be found here.